FBI Stats Show More Guns Equal Less Crime

Despite rabid calls for gun control at the recent Democratic presidential debate, FBI stats show what author John Lott explained in his 1998 book, More Guns, Less Crime. In the chart below you’ll find the number of background checks performed by the FBI for gun sales, and the number of violent crimes committed in the U.S. from 1999 to 2014. As you can see, as numbers of implied gun purchases have exploded, the number of violent crimes has cratered, directly counter to the idea that guns cause crime.